After over 2 months off...

Before today, the last time I ran was May 6 with my son in his first 5k, The Bearwallow Beast. And before that was April 21st at the Smokey Mountain Relay. I had intended to take a little time off of running after the Relay because I started to feel all those little warning signs of injury. Plus, I had caught the the Cycling Bug, more specifically, the cyclo-cross bug.  I have been really enjoying my time on the bike, but I just don't feel I have enough time to maintain the level of bike fitness, as well as over-all fitness, that I'd like to. As I continue to get better on the bike I feel that my over-all fitness has suffered a little and that's why I decided to add running back into my routine. I've been able to do some pretty long rides without much difficulty and want to improve on that, but the amount of time it takes on a bike is just far more than what it takes with running.
Anyway, this morning I expected to have a good run since I had been cycling, but man, that 5 miles in 45:00 was hell!! Rude awakening, but probably should not have expected to feel comfortable at all.

Nonetheless, I'm pretty jazzed about adding running to my new found love of cycling.

Snow Fell

Some VerticALE Mile photos

VerticALE quick wrap up

All I can say is watch out Slim...

You don't tug on Superman's cape

You don't spit in the wind

You don't pull the mask off a ole' Lone Ranger

And you don't mess around with Tim.

Yeah, Tim went 11:58 followed by

John at 12:48,

Adam 14:12,

Clay 14:26,

Brandon 16:00

All on a 663' mile with the last quarter (run with 48 oz of PBR in our bellies) being a 253' fell climb in the dense fog - absolutely perfect for this fun run!

Our top 5's total time was 1:09:24!!

I would say, for myself, I had a great day of running and a poor day of drinking. My friend Brian summed it up as he was video taping us on the last quarter, he said to me "You have not properly trained for this Rick - far too much running and not enough drinking."

I can say that this is HARD. I can run hills and I can chug a beer, but I cannot BURP! This is the key folks, if your body won't burp immediately, it's tough to get the beers down. I went 18:54, spending 9:15 drinking and 9:39 running!

Great time with even better people - photos and video to follow.

The 1st Annual VerticALE Mile

My fellow WNC Runners are going to get together next weekend to hopefully start an annual tradition, the VerticALE Mile.

Yea, we nicked this from Nick, but what can I say, it's a great idea.

Won't be surprised if this guy goes close to 12:00 on this 650' mile.

It will be hard to wait a full year for the next one so I'm sure we'll do a few practice runs throughout the year. Hope to see a lot of you out there next weekend!!

8 Day Week 52 - 9,300' (609,200')

358 - 0'

359 - 3,200' - Little Pisgah w/ an extra 1,000' rep.

360 - 0'

361 - 0'

362 - 1,000' - Roads

363 - 1,300' - Mountains to Sea Trail

364 - 1,800' - Bear Wallow x 3

365 - 2,000' - Early morning Driveway reps x 10.

Week 51 - 6,000' (599,900')

351 - 2,000' - Driveway Reps x 10
352 - 0' - sick
353 - 0' - sick
354 - 0' - sick
355 - 0' - sick
356 - 2,200' sick of being sick - DW Reps x 11
357 - 1,800' Bear Wallow x 3

Week 50 - 12,600' (593,900')

Last week I listed the week as "Week 50", but realized this morning that this is Week 50! Went back and looked and saw that I mis-typed back on week 36. That's like finding some money in my pocket! With 2 weeks left in the year I'm just 6,100' away from 600,000.

344 - 2,000' - Driveway Reps x 10 - moderate effort.
345 - 0'
346 - 2,200' - Little Pisgah.
347 - 2,800' - Shut-In.
348 - 2,400' - Bear Wallow x 4 - moderate effort.
349 - 2,200' - Back Roads.
350 - 1,000' - Roads.

Nice and easy up Little Pisgah

It's going to be a while before I get sick of this climb.

2,200' and pick your path for a number of different ascents between 4&5 miles.

Then enjoy a fun descent.

Nice little place here just 100 meters from the trail head.

Week 50 - 11,200' (581,300')

344 - 1,600' - Driveway Reps x 8 - moderate.

345 - 0'

346 - 3,000' - Bearwallow x 5 with 4 x 1 mile reps.

347 - 1,000' - Roads

348 - 2,400' Driveway reps x 12 with middle 6 hard. 2:45, :48, :43, :43, :44, :27.

349 - 2,200' - Little Pisgah

350 - 1,000' - Roads. Did 3 flat 1/4'ers during this run - 1:25, 1:20, 1:20.

My new favorite hill - Golden Brown with a touch of grey.